1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to containers, especially those used for foodstuffs. More particularly, it relates to such containers which have resealable covers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been a variety of small containers on the market for many years. Of particular relevance to the present invention are those containers, primarily intended for food storage, which are usually made of plastic and are sold under trade names such as "Tupperware." Such containers normally have a lid which covers the top of the open container and can be releasably sealed around the peripheral edge of the container, such that outside air is excluded from the container, and odors which may be generated by the foodstuffs within the container (for instance, onions) are sealed within the container.
These peripherally sealed containers, however, do not have the capability of preventing movement and mixture of the various foodstuffs within the container or of preventing the odors from one type of food from being absorbed by the other foods within the container. Consequently, one finds that such containers are normally used each for a single food item. If a person wishes to have several food items available (for instance, ingredients for making sandwiches), he or she must have several separate sealed containers, each for a single food item. Such is of course inconvenient, requires additional expense for purchase of the extra containers, may not be practical when one has only limited storage and transportation space available and is subject to having some of the separate containers misplaced.
There have also been a variety of containers available in the marketplace which have a number of compartments within the container. Fishing tackle boxes, sewing boxes and tool boxes often have several wells or compartments, each open at the top for containing a variety of small items, such as fishing flies, sewing notions or small tools and fasteners. Such compartmented containers commonly are designed such that when the container is closed, the lid (or another layer or tier of compartments) closely overlies the open tops of the individual wells or compartments, so that the various items in the separate wells or compartments cannot easily be moved or displaced from one compartment to another. However, since these containers are designed merely to keep the various items from being mixed when the container is moved, such covers or lids do not actually seal the various compartments. In fact, most such containers are specifically designed only to loosely cover each compartment, so that the fisherman, seamstress or mechanic can readily retrieve the particular item desired.
It would therefore be advantageous to have a container which would permit a person to store a variety of different items such as foodstuffs with each item being fully segregated and sealed apart from the others, such that there would be no intermixing of the items themselves, their liquids or their aromas. It would also be advantageous to have such a container being light-weight, compact, easily portable and sufficiently rugged that it could be used by different types of people in a wide variety of environments, including use at home, on the job or during outdoor activities.